B-Start is a pre-accelerator program designed for high-growth startups that want to launch in Bloomington, Indiana.

B-Start participants are at the earliest stage of their business development and are coached through a 5-month process of mentorship and group activities to build a foundation for accelerating the growth of their startups.

For the 2018-2019 B-Start cohort, all group workshops will take place on Tuesdays, from 5:30-6:30pm.

Each startup that is accepted into the B-Start program will be paired with a mentor who is a local successful entrepreneur or investor. The mentorship is one of the most important facets of the program. Since the mentor will work closely with the startup throughout the duration of the program, mentors are the selection committee to determine who is accepted into the program

Our Team

The best and brightest

Mentors

Pat East- Hanapin Marketing

CEO of Hanapin Marketing since 2013, also the founder of Hero Conf and PPC Hero.

Chris Martoglio- Blue Burro

Co founder & COO of Blue Burro since 2010 and was previously the President of The Contract Management Company from 1997-2010.

Shaun McDermott- Cornerstone

Chief Financial Officer at Cornerstone since 2006 and the Chief Commercial Officer at Cornerstone since 2015. Was the member/president of Chocolate Moose from 2012-2013.

Brad Wisler- Periodic

Co founder/CEO of Periodic since 2013, co founder and managing member of SproutBox since 2008, co founder and board member of Visible since 2012, and the co founder and designer of Wolfsen Apparel since 2012.

Teri Willey- VC

Executive Director of the IU Philanthropic Venture Fund since March 2018, Advisor for OnCode International since March 2018, Advisor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory since March 2018, and Vice President for Business Development and Technology Transfer since 2013.

Tyler Henke - Bivvy

Designer/Product Manager at Bivvy, Lead designer at Yellow, cofounder of Cowork and Sid3car

Matt Laherty - Platformatics

CEO of Platformatics since October 2014. Was the Creator of Light as a Service and Sr. BDM at Cisco from 2009-2014, Creator of EnergyWise and Business Development Manager at Cisco from 2007-2009, Product Line Manager at Cisco from 2000-2007 and Associate Director of Product Marketing at SBC from 1999-2000

Geng Wang - LRAP

VP of Product at LRAP focusing on improving products for students and client universities to better help students gain access to the life-changing impact of higher education. Prior to LRAP, co-founded two companies, first RentJungle.com, an apartment search engine which was sold in 2014 to The Rainmaker Group. The second, Community Elf (rebranded as Cosmitto), a social media management firm which was sold in 2017 to a PE firm, Topanga Partners.